A team representing University of Puerto Rico in
Humacao (UPRH) won first place in the College Division of the 17th Annual NASA’s
Great Moonbuggy Race at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on April
9-10 in Huntsville, Alabama.

(Photo
courtesy of Diálogo Digital)

The race, organized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, challenges students to design, build and race lightweight,
human-powered buggies that tackle many of the same engineering challenges dealt
with by Apollo-era lunar rover developers at the Marshall Center in the late
1960s.The competition included more than
70 teams from 18 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, India and Romania. More
than 600 drivers, engineers and mechanics - all students - gathered with their
team advisers and cheering sections to take part in the matchup of wits and
wheels.

The University of Puerto Rico at Humacao holds the
distinction of being the only school in the world to enter a moonbuggy in every
race since the event was founded in 1994, the team also won the second-place
prize in 2009.